Gasoline sales had the smallest drop so far this year, but only eight provinces showed improvements

According to official data from the Secretary of Energy, shipments to the public reached 1,419,422 cubic meters between gasoline and diesel, barely 0,2% less than in May 2025. It is the smallest contraction recorded so far in 2026. In April, the interannual contraction had been 2,4%.

The difference compared to May of last year was 2,799 cubic metersa negligible variation considering the 1.4 million cubic meters sold per month.

The improvement was also observed in the monthly comparison: Compared to April, sales grew 3.03%which reflects greater demand and raises expectations about a possible recovery in consumption in the coming months.

However, the historical level has yet to be reached. The volume is still below the years of greatest consumptionwhen several months they exceeded 1.5 million cubic meters. In this way, the current market is located between 5% and 8% of the best monthly records.

Regarding performance by company, YPF maintained market leadership, with 55.9% of total sales and achieved an increase of 3,3% interannual. Shell concentrated 22.3%, but fell 1.9%; while Axion explained 11.8%, with a drop of 1.8%. The rest of the companies grouped the 10% remaining and had a negative variation of 11,6% interannual.

In this regard, the portal Supplierswhich analyzes the situation on a monthly basis, considered that the May data confirms a recovery of activity and one greater dynamics at service stations.

In the coming days the data for June will be known. Although they do not dare to release data yet, the sector anticipates that the trend would have continued last month, with price containment at the pumps by the buffer mechanism that applied YPF since the beginning of April to avoid transfers to the client of oil volatility due to the war in the Middle East.

In the industry they highlight that What happens with prices in the coming weeks will be key to the future behavior of demand.. Everything indicates that due to the new rise in oil, the possibility of a quick drop in the price of gasoline is receding. After the escalation of tension in the Middle East, Brent – ​​a reference used in Argentina to determine fuel prices – returned to above US$90 a barrel.

Regarding the performance by provinces, despite the general improvement of the market, only eight districts presented year-on-year growth in its fuel sales to the public: Chaco (12,1%), Santiago del Estero (9,9%), The Pampa (5%), Santa Fe (3,4%), Between Rivers (3,4%), Córdoba (3,2%), Land of Fire (0,8%) y Buenos Aires (0,6%).

The other 16 had year-on-year declines. In two of them, it was higher than 10%: in Missions (12,1%) y Chubut (11,4%). They followed them Jujuy (7,5%), Holy Cross (7,1%), Black River (5,5%) y Mendoza (4,5%).

And if you take into account the type of fuel, In gasoline, only two jurisdictions had growth: Neuquen (2%) y Land of Fire (1%). In the rest of the country, there were casualtiesheaded by Chubut (10,3%) y Missions (11,9%).